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World Series Drives in Fox Weekly Ratings Win

The San Francisco Giants beat the Detroit Tigers to win the 2012 World Series (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fox’s competitors didn’t have a sporting chance against its post-season baseball broadcasts even though San Francisco’s sweep earned a record-low World Series rating.

The Giants’ four-game victory over the Detroit Tigers was enough to put Fox atop last week’s ratings, according to Nielsen Co. figures released Tuesday. CBS was close behind on the strength of its regular programming, including top-rated series “NCIS.”

The fall classic averaged 12.7 million viewers, the smallest audience since Nielsen began measuring with People Meters in 1987.

“It’s important for us to remain focused on the series relative to today’s competitive environment rather than bygone years,” Fox Sports Media Group executive Michael Mulvihill said, noting the contest remained a strong performer.

Baseball cost NBC the chance to extend its four-week grip on the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. But the resurgent network, bolstered by “The Voice” and Sunday Night Football, remained the front-runner among the advertiser-favored age group for the season to date.

The ratings out next week will reflect TV schedules disrupted by the superstorm and its aftermath, with shows pre-empted by news coverage and some networks airing reruns.

Fox averaged 10.69 million weekly viewers in prime time (6.4 rating, 10 share), while CBS had 10.15 million (6.5 rating, 10 share). ABC had 7.6 million (4.9, 8), NBC had 7.05 million (4.4, 7), the CW had 1.07 million (1.1, 2) and ION Television had 970,000 (0.7, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with a 3.8 million prime-time average (2.1, 3). Telemundo had 1.1 million (0.6, 1), TeleFutura had 690,000 (0.3, 1), Estrella had 220,000 and Azteca had 160,000 (both 0.1, 0).

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8 million viewers (5.4, 10). ABC’s “World News” was second with 7.6 million (5.1, 11), and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.4 million viewers (4.4, 8).